Paper Info
Title
(How) will the revolution be retweeted?: information diffusion and the 2011 Egyptian uprising
Abstract
This paper examines microblogging information diffusion activity during the 2011 Egyptian political uprisings. Specifically, we examine the use of the retweet mechanism on Twitter, using empirical evidence of information propagation to reveal aspects of work that the crowd conducts. Analysis of the widespread contagion of a popular meme reveals interaction between those who were "on the ground" in Cairo and those who were not. However, differences between information that appeals to the larger crowd and those who were doing on-the-ground work reveal important interplay between the two realms. Through both qualitative and statistical description, we show how the crowd expresses solidarity and does the work of information processing through recommendation and filtering. We discuss how these aspects of work mutually sustain crowd interaction in a politically sensitive context. In addition, we show how features of this retweet-recommendation behavior could be used in combination with other indicators to identify information that is new and likely coming from the ground.
Year
DOI
Venue
2012
10.1145/2145204.2145212
CSCW
Keywords
DocType
Citations 
egyptian uprising,crowd interaction,on-the-ground work,information processing,egyptian political uprising,information propagation,important interplay,popular meme,larger crowd,information diffusion activity,empirical evidence
Conference
120
PageRank 
References 
Authors
4.37
11
2
Search Limit
100120
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Kate Starbird1128893.28
Leysia Ann Palen23104340.89